Bank has no record of $500k Gayle Dunne wired to lawyer

A BANK to which Gayle Dunne wired $500,000 (€365,000) has no record of any account held by a lawyer accused of siphoning off the money from the Dublin socialite.

In a letter filed with a court in New York, TD Bank said it is unable to locate any accounts for Philip Teplen or his Manhattan-based law firm.

Mr Teplen, retained by Ms Dunne to work on her visa and with real estate developments, is accused of taking the money after it was wired to the firm’s escrow account.

The money was supposedly wired from Ms Dunne’s bank to the Teplen and Associates account at TD Bank.

And on November 18, according to court filings, the money did drop into Mr Teplen’s firm’s account.

Mr Teplen is then accused of cleaning out the account, possibly to pay for medical bills for his girlfriend but more likely to settle a remarkably similar lawsuit taken by a couple who accused him of taking $350,000 held in escrow.

In the letter dated December 23, TD Bank state: “Please allow this letter to confirm that TD Bank NA was unable to locate any accounts of the defendant or the defendants in the above referenced case.”

It’s unclear whether this means Mr Teplen had an account and closed it down or whether he was able to somehow direct the funds to a different bank.

Mr Teplen did not return calls for comment, while Ms Dunne was not contactable. The bank does not comment on individual account holders.

Ms Dunne hired Mr Teplen to help get her an investment visa but wired the $500,000 as she was planning to acquire property in Chicago.

After changing her mind, she asked Mr Teplen to wire $170,000 to another account. He stalled, she became suspicious and told him to wire all $500,000.

Mrs Dunne also revealed in correspondence that the half million was all the money she had available, although her investment portfolio was doing well.

Later, Mr Teplen’s lawyer admitted the money was gone.

On the same day Ms Dunne wired the money to Mr Teplen’s account, another couple filed a lawsuit against the lawyer, claiming he had taken $350,000 owed from a real estate deal.

That lawsuit was settled in early December, at the same time as Ms Dunne began asking questions.